Tashkeel opens doors for talented designers in the UAE to join upcoming design programme

• 2014-15 Design Programme in partnership with PAL Labs
• Deadline for entry is April 30, 2014

Dubai, United Arab Emirates; April 6, 2014:  Tashkeel announces this year’s design programme that engages designers, makers and artisans living and working in the UAE to develop a range of products that work towards defining a design, aesthetic and production process that is innately from the emirates. Harnessing the cross-cultural range of skills and materials to be found in the region, the programme is based on a long-term experimental process involving an annual rotation of selected participants that will run this year from June 2014 through to Design Days Dubai 2015.

The programme will run in collaboration with PAL Labs, the UK’s leading and most established organization for lab based processes designed to facilitate the creation of new, innovative work by designers and makers. It will consist of a series of two-day workshops led by established designers and curators over the course of nine months. Participants will work in a combination of group, pair and individual work which will involve experimental and collaborative practice, constructive critical feedback as well as investigating new business models. There will be a continuous evaluation of the process throughout the programme.

“Tashkeel has been a prominent figure within the UAE’s cultural infrastructure in supporting, at a grass roots level, locally based artists and designers. This initiative continues to endorse our on-going programme and facilitates a sustained cultural exchange as well as develops an appreciation both nationally and internationally for home-grown talents from the Emirates,” says Anabelle de Gersigny, Tashkeel’s Strategy and Partnership Development Manager.

Tashkeel is looking for outstanding designer/maker collaborations to work with through this innovative and exciting process.
• The programme is open to all designers living and working in Dubai over the age of 21 years
• Designers can work in any discipline
• Designers must come with partner makers to work with and be willing to work with local artisans in the process
• Applicants must be a current resident in the UAE
• Deadline of application is on April 30, 2014

A total of three designers will be selected by a committee of internationally established experts in the contemporary design field, including:  artist Lateefa bint Maktoum, Founder and Director of Tashkeel; Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum in London; and design historian, curator and gallerist Libby Sellers.

Key members of the design community will oversee the laboratories, providing guidance and expertise to the programme participants. These include founders of London-based Studio Glithero, Tim Simpson and Sarah van Gameren; Fi Scott, founder of Make Works - an independent design-led organisation aimed at boosting local production of high quality works in Scotland; Royal College of Art curator Amanda Game, who holds over thirty years of experience working alongside commercial, museum and non-profit spaces in Scotland and the wider UK.

“PAL Labs prides itself on being a crucible for talent development, and for developing innovative collaborative approaches to developing new work and new ideas. We are extremely proud to be working with such a respected organisation dedicated to supporting artists and designers in the UAE. I am very excited by the process that we have designed to support artists and designers from the UAE and hugely looking forward to the developing cross-cultural dialogue and ideas that will come from this exchange.” Roanne Dods, Artistic Director, PAL Labs.